Wireless signaling apparatus.



W. HAHN-EMANN. WIRELESS SIGNALING APPARATUS. Amlcmon mm "m 11. um.

1,197,366. PatentedSept. 5,1916.

WIRELESS SIGNALING APPARATUS mousse.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ram-1M se t. 5 19m,

Continuation of application filed February 10, 3.913, Serial No\ 747,372. This application flletla'nne n,

1914. Serial No. 844,532.

To (wil '10 ham it may concern Be it known that 1', lVAm'nn l'lsimnismnbi, n, suhie ,t of the King of Saxony, and residing at ilGel, Germany, have invented a certain new and Improved Wireless Signaling Apparatus, of which. the following is a specification.

My invention relates to wireless signaling apparatus and particularly to apparatus for signaling to or from vessels with metallic hulls. being a continuation of Serial No. 747,3?2,

Arrangements have heretofore been proosed. in which metal plates have been sunk in the ground or in the water as electrodes through which electric energy, in the form of direct or alternating current, has been led to the conducting medium (viz. water or earth) for the purpose of transmitting signals to .2, great distance without the use of metallic conductors. In the arrangements employed to effect this end, it is possible that the electrodes have. sometimes been arrangid at different depths in the transmitting medium, But investigation of the operation of these arrangements discloses at once that induced current is emploved, evident from the form, size and arrange ment of the electrodes. While it is possible that in some instances the action of current flux might have been used for the production of the signals, such operation appears never to have been previously practised and perhaps its availability for the purpose was not even recognized,

Under normal conditions, if it is desired to signal by means of simple current flux, the proper form of energy for this purpose is the direct current. Its use however is barred by practical difiiculties if large bodies of metal are near the electrodes, as for instance in sea. signaling, where the electrodes may he carried by a ship having a metal hull. In such cases, where direct current is employed, the ship's hull so etl'eo tively short circuits the current that practically n0 lines of force would remain for the transmission of signals to a distance. By the use of alternating current and raising the frequency of the latter to a high pitch, this short-circuiting can. be in large part av oided. This frequency cannot however be raised to an unlimited extent, since the conductivity of sea Water makes the transmission of currents of very high frequency impossible. Within the limits imposed by these conditions a medium frequenyn'fist be selected, and this for iron ships of ordinary size, appears to be a frequency of about five thousand per second.

Now in order to attainzwith the energy thus sent out a current flux action which is not operative only in at certain direction, the arrangement. of the electrodes with respect to each other must be properly determined. An arrangementor" these in a horizontal plane, which would 01 course he tl'lfiySllIb plest arrangement for a ship,,can-not be employed for this would result in the energy emunations being operative only in certain directions.

According to the present invention the desired-end: is attained by arranging the electrodes Vertically one above the other, as

a result of which not only is the transmission of the signal only in certain direction uT oided, but also the short circuiting action of the ship is eliminated. The energy euinnations are strongest in the transverse plane that crosses at the middle point of the imaginary line that connects the electrodes and as n consequence the lines of current flux are transmitted on all sides evenly tl'irough the medium while the ships hull lies in a separate zone in which it does not cause any detrimental effects by short cireuiting notion, etc. I

The electrod s enugloyed to cart}; out the imceutiomure metal plates of good electrical condwrtivity. of which one, (the upper) is secured to the bottom of the ships hull, while the other is arranged at some distance belowthe keel, when the ship is floating in a normal depth. instead of fastening a, plate on the slrips hull to form e upper electrode. the hull itselfnnry be no dens the upper electrode lf iu'thermore, the upper electrode may be secured well up on the side of the hull, although of course below the water line; in this case two plates; must be employed, one on each side of the ship, and electrically connected together so that they are of the same potential. By placing this electrode higher'on the hull, it is obviously possible to lift the lower eleotriuie nearer to the hull of the ship. But care must be tailen to have as muchnater as possible, that is .support insulated from" the hull. :vantageous to so arrange 1t that the elec= 1 trode r: at will. The mitted to'the elect:

through igidiurlZOi's/t and i, while, when rethe hull is in large part interposed between the electrodes, but the consequent tendency to short circuit can'be prevented by the use of a'current of the highest frequency permissible under the limitations above mentioned. If the upper electrode .i arranged on the lower portion of the ships hull, it

trode and its appliances are protrudablc through the hull of the ship, since this makes it possible to readily inspect, repair or' adjust the electrode as may be necessary.

In the accon'ipanying drawing Figures 1 and 2' are more or less diagrammatic transverse sections through a ships hull showing my ini 'cntio'n applied thereto in two different forms.

In the form shown in Figf'l, the upper electrode 6 arranged on but insulated from the keel as The cooperating lower electrode is suspended by a suitable suspender glpassing over rollers f toa drum l2, from all of which it is insulated by'the nonconductingconnections 0; [heoperation of the drum It serves to lilt or lower the elecending currentis trans: odes from the source ceiving, the transmitted current is led from lherlectrodes in like maimcr' to a suitable detecting apparatus adjacent lathe form shown in Fig. electrodecompriscslthc two plates 1/, 7/, 'l'astencd to the. 'ships hull but insulated tllQlQflO'll'l by slicetstof non-acorn]acting material Z, l", lllOSQ plates a re connected together and to the, transmission and mg ap 'iar: |tus (as in Fig.1) by L1H, condurtms /i ,'7i.. The crx'iperating low er electrode dis arranged so asto he prot'rudii li;

through the hull or the ship and to llus end it is hxcd to a rigid rou.'m that is'surrounded by an insulating sheath u and provided with a piston-like head cwwhich wrn'ks Ell the tube 7/ through which the clectrmle the upper may he lifted or lowered as may he desired.

A slide 'Valve 1 may be provided to close the lower end of the tube p-afterthe electrode 0 has beendrawn in. 4

I claim:

1. A signaling device for a ship comprising two conducting bodies fixed. to the slups hull above the keel, an adjustable electrode below the imaginary line connecting the two said conducting bodies and a-current source having its one pole connected to the two conducting bodies and its other pole con; .nectcd to theelectrode. 2. Av signaling device for a ship comprlsing two conducting bodies fixed to the shipshull above the keel, an adjustable electrode arranged approx the imagim'u'y lim. connecting the two said conducting bodies and a currentsrmrce having its one pole connected to the two conducting bodies audits other pole connected to the electrode. 5 y

3. In a signaling device for ships with metallic bulls and for transmitting messages by'currcut flux action, a current source, electrodes connected .to said source, one of the said electrodes having means associated 8b therewith for protruding the same through the ship's bull to lie below the other elec trode so that a current flux may pass 1111f checked beneath the hull. of theshipf' S g ng device for a ship compris ing two conducting bodies fixed to-the ships hull abore the keel, imaginary line connecting the two conducts ing bodies, a; rigid" rod carrying the said electrode andradjustably protrudable tio through the hull of the ship mule desired distance from said imaginary line, and a. current source having its onepole'co niected to the two conducting bodies, and its other pole connected to 'the protrudable electrode. 10b,

0. ln'a signaling device-for slrips with metallic bulls and for transmitting signals by current fliix action, a current pair of electrodes carricdby, but

from, the ship and connected to said izurrent source said "electrodes w licncin .use-fibeii'lg spaced apart to liiiiii-,ilill'erent-horizontal planes so that a current llux may "p'ziss iinrlicclu-d bun bath t' h liill h-of tliofsliip, and

guide means on the, for sccuriug the'ilO lower electrodebciicath theshii'a in 1wedotcr= mined position withf-relation to the upper elcctrodc. V i

iatelv vertically below 75 anelectrode be'low the 

